Going to install a Raytheon Radar/Chartplotter at helm of Dehler 34. Is 7&quot; big enough? Is 10&quot; too big (don''t want my whole cockpit filled up with electronics)? Is color worth the extra money or is monochrome fine?

Opinions appreciated.

camaraderie

09-27-2002 07:42 PM

Raymarine Radar/Chartplotters

I have the 7&quot; mono on my 44'' boat and am quite pleased with it BUT things do get a bit scrunched up when using it in split screen mode (rare for me) so if a lot of split screen work is your intent I''d go for the 10&quot;. The mono is definitely adequate but the color is awesome...just wasn''t worth the extra $$ to me. One complaint I have is that the night lighting is WAY too bright...I end up putting a towel over it and uncovering only as needed...don''t know if that has been solved with this years models or the color but you may want to take a look at that. VERY happy with the CMAP NT SUPER wide carts that are now available at reasonable prices for use in these. All best,,,GB

kimberlite

09-28-2002 05:12 PM

Raymarine Radar/Chartplotters

do you have a rl70 chart plotter with a high speed bus?
eric

Bluesmoods

09-30-2002 05:05 PM

Raymarine Radar/Chartplotters

I just had and RL70CRC+ installed in my new catalina 350. The color display is the way to go. I also put a 2KW Raymarine radome on the mast and the Raystar WAAS 120 GPS Ant. on the stern rail.

Wow!! C-Map NT and full color display is just amazing. The system is incredibly accurate. I used the RL70 to take the boat out of the harbor Saturday night. I had marked waypoints on my way in the week before during the day. Good thing I plotted the waypoints next to the bouys not at them cause'' I would of hit them!! The 7&quot; screen is fine. I also have the 5000+ auto pilot and full compliment of ST60 instruments. The auto pilot head and ST60 instruments share a horizontal Nav Pod. The RL70CRC+ is mounted in an Edson pod above the ST60 rack. It looks and performs great.

I am an Airline Transport Pilot /Flight Instructor. Eye scan plane or boat is very important... (boat in low vis.conditions or at night). Design your electronics on your ship accordingly.

I do highly recommend the 7&quot; RL70CRC+.

Best of luck what ever it is you install.

kimberlite

09-30-2002 07:51 PM

Raymarine Radar/Chartplotters

can i ask why you mounted the instruments at the wheel?
thanks
eric

turbo87

10-01-2002 09:32 AM

Raymarine Radar/Chartplotters

Thanks for the input. I am going to go with the RL70CRC Radar/Chartplotter.

Bluesmoods

10-04-2002 05:52 PM

Raymarine Radar/Chartplotters

You might want to try to get a price from Both BoatUS and also www.everythingboatsforless.com. They both quoted about $2700 for RL70CRC+ therebouts..

kimberlite

10-04-2002 06:51 PM

Raymarine Radar/Chartplotters

over the years i have bought a lot of raytheon-ray marine stuff.
i have found that radar marine in washington state beats everyones price on the first estimate. ask for bill you can mention my name.
eric freedman

tsenator

10-06-2002 07:51 AM

Raymarine Radar/Chartplotters

I have the RL70CRC mounted at the helm on my C36MKII and I love it. The resolution is awesome.. It is orders of magnitude better than the Monochrome. Yes it is bit more expensive but I think it is worth every penny. The added colors make instant recognition of where you are or blip on the radar stand out much more pronouncely and instant recognition is easy. With the monochrome you must stare at the screen and ''analyze'' and think a bit more I have the unit at the helm because I singlehand alot and it makes it easy to just glance at the screen than to run down below or transfer information back and forth of whats out there. When coastal cruising with lots of traffic and hazards it takes the stress level in ''tight'' situations way down and lets you concentrate on other things.

petercra

11-01-2002 06:06 PM

Raymarine Radar/Chartplotters

I installed the Raymarine SL72RC+ radar chartplotter this spring and am reasonably pleased. This was a new model without HSB and monochrome. They''ve since introduced some other new models. HSB and color were a lot more when I bought my unit. The color units that I''ve seen are indeed awesome, but not worth the price difference to me. I''m not sure the 10&quot; unit has any more pixels, I wouldn''t waste money on that over the smaller color unit unless your eyesight is poor. Color buys most of the improvement in legibility -- much brighter and many more pixels than the monochrome.

The backlighting is adjustable with my unit, I found the display easier to read after dark and entered waypoints then.

I used my unit on a 2 1/2 week cruise in Maine -- first trip up there and I didn''t want to hit any of the many ledges or rocks. Each night I''d take about an hour to plan the next day''s trip and input all of the waypoints. It was very time consuming, paricularly as it''s difficult to enter waypoint names with the trackpad. One must select each letter in sequence (a problem even with the color units). Verifying that the route did not cross any shallow spots was a little difficult too, one had to constantly move the cursor and zoom in and out. On a later trip I used my home laptop with Maptech charts and their included chart reader software below for route planning. Much easier using the mouse, keyboard and color. Although Maptech claims you can''t do it, I did figure out a way to upload the waypoints over the NMEA interface.

P.S. Didn''t run aground once, and got into some very tight unmarked spots that I never would have tried without the chartplotter. One tends to look at the chartplotter rather than the depth sounder to see how deep it is, the chartplotter/GPS is that accurate with the Raymarine WAAS GPS unit.